THE TOP FIVE REASONS YOU STOPPED HITTING PR’S

 

 

Every beginner in the weight room always experiences the same thing, PR’s! Just about every week, you can come into the gym and hit more significant numbers than the week prior. 

Suddenly, the numbers come to a halt, and you’re stuck in a plateau. 

As your training age and strength go up, hitting bigger numbers regularly becomes much more problematic. 

While getting your lifts up to the level you want does take time, it can be narrowed down to a few simple categories when you hit a plateau.

 Left to right imbalances, training the wrong areas, adequate recovery, consistently progressing, and technique.         

 

Strength Imbalances

           The First of the issues, and possibly the most important, is the strength and coordination imbalances. 

When the body is more efficient on one side than the other, the system becomes less efficient. You then have to compensate, and this is where the risk of injury increases. 

For example, suppose my left leg is far stronger than my right leg, and I continue to do heavy back squats. In that case, my body will naturally begin to overcompensate on the weaker side.

This overcompensation, or shifting on the weight, leads to increased stress on the knee, ankle, hip, and back. You combine this with lots of reps and weights, and over time, it’s a ticking time bomb for injuries.

This strength imbalance does not only apply to the squat. It’s the entire body.

If one muscle group isn’t working at its full potential, the result is staying stuck in plateaus and not hitting those bigger numbers in the weight room.

 

Maxing too much

           The second reason for getting stuck is that you are training the wrong way! 

If you are always loading up for 1RM’s or heavy 5’s, you are shooting yourself in the foot, and you aren’t going to see long term progress. 

Smart training means using strategies that will challenge your body without continually breaking it down with heavy loads.

Implementing strategies like slow eccentric reps, pauses, and contrast training will skyrocket your lifts and allow you to lift for the rest of your life.

Our bodies are created to adapt to stress, so when you use the same thing repeatedly, your body gets used to it, and you stall out again.

 

Recover

           Thirdly, you have to recover. Your body cannot progress beyond its ability to heal. 

Every time you workout, or do anything for that matter, you create micro-fractures in the muscles. These tears get repaired when you have quality sleep, calories, and smart training nailed down. 

When you don’t have those three things nailed down, and you pound your body with heavy lifting every day, you will only slowly start to decline. 

After a while, people start asking, 

“ Do you even lift, bro?” hahaha. Nobody wants that.

 

Progression 

Fourthly, without consistency and continued progressive model, you will never see lasting gains. 

The occasional session skipped is not a big deal. Things happen. The problem arises when you miss regularly, and the training volume/load stays the same.

You can’t expect to increase your numbers if every time you squat, you do a 5×5 @ 225. 

Challenge yourself to be better than the day before. Add or subtract weight, reps, tempo, but make sure it’s a progression. Don’t make it random – be tactical!!

 

Technique

The last reason that most people overlook is your technique. Improper movement is detrimental to your lifting progress. 

Poor bracing of your core leads to low muscle activation, resulting in less efficient lifting and increased injury risk. 

Less efficient lifting could look like:

• Shifting the weight on your toes in a squat
• Poor engagement of the lats while you bench
• Letting the bar drift away during a deadlift, clean or snatch, 
• Hips rise faster than the shoulders on a deadlift
• Many more technical errors are stunting progress. 

Paying greater attention to detail and being aware of how you move will have tremendous payoffs in the gym.

It will allow your body to move more powerfully and efficiently every time. These improved positions will allow you to then adapt to the training stimulus, thus increasing your numbers and hitting PR’s!!

 Every world-class athlete has become a master of their sport. They take the time to refine every small detail to become the best they possibly can. 

When you nail down all these things:

• Fix your imbalances
• Train smarter
• Implementing better recovery habits 
• Proper progression
• Improve training techniques

You will always be able to get stronger, reduce injuries, and enjoy the gym. 

No more going to the gym and feeling like you are crushing your workout only to be in the same spot as when you started.

If you are ready to hit those big numbers that you have always dreams about, then click the link here and we can talk about how our program could help you.